The Regift That Never Was...

We've all regifted, right? Surely I am not alone here. After we got married and had 5 covered pie plates with no clue of the store of purchase for return or exchange, we added them to the gift closet and pulled them out for occasions where we were invited to a 7th cousin twice removed's wedding. No shame there, right?

I always was a little bit nervous though--double and triple checking for "evidence"--like a calling card or stray wrapping. I always made myself feel justified by writing a thoughtful card and presenting it with fun packaging.

Sigh. If only that were the subject of this post--getting caught regifting...

Nope. Have you ever given a gift that showed evidence of being a regift but actually was purchased--by you--for the recipient???

Well, that's just humiliating.

Our upstairs closet outside of Ansley's room is our entertainment closet, our camping gear/picnic closet, and our gift closet. Gifts in here include future gifts for our kids for upcoming holidays, future Birthday party gifts for the girls' friends and family, books that I buy in bulk from Scholastic, and gifts that our kids have previously received that we have hidden away for rainy day fun.

You know what I am talking about, right? After Birthday parties or Christmases where your kids have received 6 coloring books, 4 dress up outfits, lots of Melissa and Doug crafts, and squinkies--Oh the squinkies... Too much stuff, and you just.don't.know.where.to.put.it.all. So I usually stack them up and hide them away and pull them out when another coloring book has been filled up, or a dress up dress has ripped, or it's raining... and my kids are about to tear the house down... and I need to settle them into a painting craft, or when Maggie has eaten squinkies...

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was pulling out a gift that I had bought for one of my favorite soon-to-be-1-year-olds, and I wrapped it all up, presented it to her, and when my friend pulled it out for her daughter, a slip of paper fell out of the baby doll that read, "To Ansley, Love Grandmama."

I GASPED. A low, gutteral, groan followed. Of all the times I had gotten away with re-gifting, I got CAUGHT on a fluke innocent mishap. I went up to my miscellaneous closet, saw the gift from Grandmama for Ansley that I had hidden away for an opportune time, and surmised that that tag had fallen into this babydoll.

Oh, the horror.

Thankfully, my gracious friend laughed and listened to my crazy explanation. I don't know how she could have believed it.

I still can hardly believe it myself.

We've all regifted, right? Surely I am not alone here. After we got married and had 5 covered pie plates with no clue of the store of purchase for return or exchange, we added them to the gift closet and pulled them out for occasions where we were invited to a 7th cousin twice removed's wedding. No shame there, right?

I always was a little bit nervous though--double and triple checking for "evidence"--like a calling card or stray wrapping. I always made myself feel justified by writing a thoughtful card and presenting it with fun packaging.

Sigh. If only that were the subject of this post--getting caught regifting...

Nope. Have you ever given a gift that showed evidence of being a regift but actually was purchased--by you--for the recipient???

Well, that's just humiliating.

Our upstairs closet outside of Ansley's room is our entertainment closet, our camping gear/picnic closet, and our gift closet. Gifts in here include future gifts for our kids for upcoming holidays, future Birthday party gifts for the girls' friends and family, books that I buy in bulk from Scholastic, and gifts that our kids have previously received that we have hidden away for rainy day fun.

You know what I am talking about, right? After Birthday parties or Christmases where your kids have received 6 coloring books, 4 dress up outfits, lots of Melissa and Doug crafts, and squinkies--Oh the squinkies... Too much stuff, and you just.don't.know.where.to.put.it.all. So I usually stack them up and hide them away and pull them out when another coloring book has been filled up, or a dress up dress has ripped, or it's raining... and my kids are about to tear the house down... and I need to settle them into a painting craft, or when Maggie has eaten squinkies...

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was pulling out a gift that I had bought for one of my favorite soon-to-be-1-year-olds, and I wrapped it all up, presented it to her, and when my friend pulled it out for her daughter, a slip of paper fell out of the baby doll that read, "To Ansley, Love Grandmama."

I GASPED. A low, gutteral, groan followed. Of all the times I had gotten away with re-gifting, I got CAUGHT on a fluke innocent mishap. I went up to my miscellaneous closet, saw the gift from Grandmama for Ansley that I had hidden away for an opportune time, and surmised that that tag had fallen into this babydoll.

Oh, the horror.

Thankfully, my gracious friend laughed and listened to my crazy explanation. I don't know how she could have believed it.

I still can hardly believe it myself.